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18 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2000 YOUR CHRIST! By Heather Engli Certified Horticulturist, £ Goodwood Gardens Ihe Holiday Season is a special time of year for agcorating our homes. For fe gardening enthusiast it ig a perfect opportunity to agsign a winter garden of cBeer both indoors and ofitdoors. aditional greens are ekcellent decorations ound 'which to create hai visti] your Christmas garden. Cedar rope is a versatile 'foundation' green. It can be swagged on fences and railings, tacked to door frames and decorated with colourful ribbon and lights. Living wreaths of pine, bal- sam, cedar or grape vines are perfect for decorating with nuts, pine cones, fresh holly, cinnamon sticks, dried fruit (cranberries, bit- tersweet, etc.), ivy, and LS CO] dried grasses, flowers and seed pods. Outdoors special lighting and trimmings 'can high- light the natural winter beauty of evergreens, broad leaved evergreens (euonymous, boxwood), dogwoods, kerria, holly and corkscrew willows. With a little judicious pruning, some branches from these shrubs can be used to serve as.a subtle transition HOME ¢ Sophimiced Home Shops In a Small Town Setting ; % reclining furniture and tiirpn softs : Why sacrifice comfort : Jor style with - Settlement House Shops selection of flexback and recliner chairs from Action Lane. You'll never have to choose between style and comfort again. Many styles available for immediate delivery. ~ 183 Queen St., Port Perry (905) 985-8234 www.settlementhouse.com Hours; Mon. to Wed. & Sat. 9:30-5:30; Thurs. & Fri. 9:30-9:00 & Sun. 11-5:00. From Dec. 2 - Open weeknights till 9:00 CNR LI a avy LDILLEC material from outdoors to indoors. And once indoors, high- light seasonal house plants. Add flare to plants with sprigs of evergreens and holly. Dress weeping figs and Norway Island pine with garland and mini- lights. The festive season would - not be complete without the traditional house plants - poinsettia, cycla- FICINS SETTLEMENT HOUSE SHOPS men and Christmas cactus. Remember they all prefer bright, indirect light. Cooler locations, especially for cyclamen, 'improve their lasting quality. North facing windows are ideal. Avoid over watering. Be sure to puncture foil wrappers in order to provide good drainage. Christmas cactus, like poinsettias, respond to day length. Shorter days trigger flower production. Temporary placement of the plant in darkness from dusk until dawn (a spare bedroom) will help to initi- ate buds. Note the true Christmas cactus have rounded leaf 'segments. Cactus with pointed leaf segments are Thanksgiving cactus, blooming in late October into November. Enjoy the Holiday Season in your gardens. Cork Flooring for the Kitchen Looking for a creative way to spice up your kitchen interior? Why not start with a brand new look for your 4 floors? When it comes to kitchen flooring, more and more home- a owners "dre opting for" = the latest material in versatile kitchen floor- ing: cork. Today's kitchens are by far the most multi- faceted rooms in the house - and perhaps the most when it comes to flooring. In many homes, the kitchen is much more than a place to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner; it's a place to chat with family over 8 a board game, a place to puzzle over home- work, a place to hold court with good friends. Heavy traffic in the kitchen area demands that flooring durable, stain resistant, easy to clean and sound absorbent, while help- ing to create a visually oe attractive room. Cork AFIT Se Rr gh LF PAMPER 3 + Gf pe wot ERR LL 1d flooring meets all of 'these needs - and more. Peter Barretto of ~Torlys Inc, distributors «of Cork Flooring from " Wicanders and Ipocork, says, "People literally walk for miles in their kitchens." "Cork is soft, warm and comfortable to walk on. It doesn't be. even matter if you drop a dish -cork is soft enough to prevent breakage in most cases," he adds. Cork flooring is built to last, thanks to its natu- ral ability to absorb the ¢t of fod traffic and even out the sustained pressure of furniture and fittings. When it comes to clean- ing, cork flooring is a homeowner' s dream. Even the messiest kitchen accidents - spilled coffee, juice or a child's paint jar -disap- pear with the simple wipe of a detergent- "moistened mop. And unlike most kitchen floorboard, Wicanders and Ipocork cork floor- ing never requires re- varnishing, they just keep looking great year after year. Another advantage of cork flooring in the kitchen is its high sound absorbency. Since cork reduces footstep noise to a minimum, it's a practical choice as well as an attractive one. Warm and stylish, with a wide rangé of patterns and coloufs to choose from, cork flooring will open up a world of pos- sibilities when it comes to your kitchen renova- tion project. VET I2002.000 1008009000029 93 2300080893953 2 000000 RAMON ERNIE SIR OIO EES III ESS EIIIR EAs